


Of Thieves and Trouble

by Libraryadia, Mara_Jade101



Series: Kids No More [2]
Category: Max Finder Mystery (Comics)
Genre: Best Friends, Childhood Friends, F/M, Friendship, Kid Detectives AU, Male-Female Friendship, Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:15:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 5,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28220751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Libraryadia/pseuds/Libraryadia, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mara_Jade101/pseuds/Mara_Jade101
Summary: Max, Alison and Zoe never questioned any of the cases brought to them so when Jessica asks them to catch the people behind a string of robberies making her father look incompetant and damaging his reelection campaign, they don’t see a problem with saying yes.But do they realize what they’re getting into?
Relationships: Max Finder & Zoe Palgrave & Alison Santos, Max Finder/Alison Santos
Series: Kids No More [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1889242





	1. Chapter 1: Max

“Wow,” Max remarked as he read the newspaper article Zoe had circled. “Another robbery?”

Zoe nodded. “It’s been going on for weeks and the police have nothing.”

Alison whistled as she glanced over another article. “Wow. They’re not being kind to Mayor Peeves at all.”

“How exactly is criminals giving the police the runaround his fault anyway?” Max asked.

Alison shrugged. “Other people don’t necessarily make sense. But I think their reasoning is that letting criminals ‘run wild’ puts the public in danger.”

At that moment, the trio of friends heard a familiar voice calling “Max! Alison! I need your help!”

They turned to see their schoolmate Jessica Peeves.

“With what?” Max asked.

“I need you guys to investigate the robberies,” Jessica said breathlessly.

“Um...that’s not really what we…”

Jessica cut Max off with a scoff. “Please; you’ve caught thieves before.” Then she bit her lip. “Please...Dad isn’t handling the accusations well. I don’t really care if he gets reelected; I just want the rumors to stop. It’s not his fault these guys are…”

Max held up a hand. “All right, Jessica. We’ll help you. But not for free. This is an actual transaction.”

He could feel Alison’s look of surprise just as clearly as he could see Jessica’s.

But Jessica recovered first. “I can do $25 dollars each now and we can discuss what the completion payment will be once the thieves are caught.”

Max held out a hand. “Deal.”

Jessica shook it before saying “Come to my house tomorrow after school; we can talk more about the case then.”

Jessica left silence in her wake.

Then Alison said “Really, Max? We’re going after probably adult criminals?”

Max gave her a sheepish grin. “This wouldn’t be the first time we did that. Camp Prog.”

Alison groaned. “And that’s not the only time...okay; fine.”

Zoe piped up. “We aren’t going to do anything stupid, right?”

Max gave her what he hoped was a reassuring grin. “Of course not. We’ve always gone to the proper authorities before; why would that change?”


	2. Chapter 2- Alison

Alison rolled her eyes. “Oh, I can think of a few reasons…”

Max chuckled. “Of course you can. But we’ll be fine, Ali.”

She nodded and checked her phone. “Hey, I got to go. See you later?”

Max and Zoe waved at her. “See you, Alison!”

Alison walked home and upon entering her house, was greeted by her parents having a hushed discussion though she picked up something about “everywhere” and “safe?”

“I’m home!” she called.

Her parents turned to her with strained smiles as her mother said “Hey, Sweetie. How was your day?”

“Interesting,” Alison replied, mentally debating whether she should tell her parents what had happened with Jessica.

“Interesting how?”

Alison winced at her mother’s tone.  _ ‘Yikes. What were they talking about?’ _

She cleared her throat and said “Jessica asked Max and I if we could take on investigating the rash of robberies. Her dad isn’t taking the backlash well and Jessica is worried about him.”

Her mother’s smile tightened. “Just analysis, right? Not actually going after anyone?”

Alison debated with herself again. “Yeah. That’s all we’ll be doing tomorrow.”

_ ‘That much is the truth anyway.’ _

“Well, your father and I are going out of town this weekend so make sure you do your homework and stay safe.”

Alison gave what she intended to be a reassuring smile. “Of course. Don’t I always?”

Her parents laughed uneasily before her father said “Well, you try I suppose…”

Alison’s stomach rolled slightly but she pushed it down as her mother said “Now let’s eat. Dinner’s ready.”

XXX

The next day, Alison walked downstairs and glanced over her dad’s shoulder at the newspaper in his hands. “Another robbery?” She asked.

Her father nodded and closed the newspaper. “Apparently it was over at Gem Den. This is getting crazy.”

Alison nodded but quickly changed the subject, letting the topic of the thefts die off around her as much as she could. It didn’t really work since the school was buzzing about it and had been for days but still.

Finally school was over for the day and she met up with Max and Zoe in front of the school. “What did you tell your parents?” she asked.

“Dad’s out of town on business and is going to be for the next month so it was just Mom for me,” Max said. “And I told her I had a case. She didn’t really say much other than to not get into too much trouble.”

“And I just had to get past Andrea since both our parents are away,” Zoe added. “She didn’t really question what I’d be doing. Just told me not to go looking for trouble.”

Alison nodded and the trio set off for the Peeves house. Zoe somehow ended up ahead and reached the front door first.

“Jessica, we’re here!” Zoe called out as she entered the house.

Jessica led them into her family’s dining room and gestured for them to sit down. “Thank goodness you’re here! We need to get started!”


	3. Chapter 3: Max

“Let’s see…” Max said as he sat down and pulled out his notebook. “Let’s start with where all of the robberies took place.”

“Mega-con Comics had the cash register broken into,” Zoe said as she and Alison joined him and Jessica. “Plus several high-value comics and cards.”

“Then Mr. Dematteo’s store. They lost four TVs, three stereos and all the cash in the register,” Alison added.

“Suds & Scents got the cash register cleaned out,” Max said as he wrote it down.

“The Hobby Hut lost several top-shelf models and again, the cash register was emptied,” Zoe said.

“My mom said there have been multiple thefts at the station,” Max added with a grimace. “Mostly petty cash but some jewelry and watches have gone missing too.”

“Same at the Pilton Meadows Hotel,” Alison said. “The safe keeps getting broken into and the staff can’t figure out how since they’ve been changing the combination. Not to mention several guests have lost jewelry and cash.”

“Tech World’s been hit twice,” Jessica put in. “Several computers and all of the cash in the register both times.”

“Game Barn got hit a couple of times too,” Alison said. “Lots of stolen games and the register was cleaned out.”

“Almost every store in the mall has been robbed at least once,” Zoe added. “What was stolen varied depending on the store in question but all of them lost whatever was in the register at the time of the theft.”

“And finally is the robbery at Gem Den,” Alison finished. “Several rings and unset gems and yet again a cleaned out cash register.”

“So whoever is behind this will take whatever sellable items a store has to offer but the thing they find most appealing is actual cash,” Max said thoughtfully.

“So do you think they’ll hit the bank?” Jessica asked anxiously.

“Possibly,” Alison said as she looked over Max’s notes. “They could also hit one of these locations again.”

“Or break into someone’s house,” Zoe suggested.

“And of course there’s still places that have cash somewhere on site that haven’t been hit yet,” Max added, closing his notebook. “But judging by the looks of things, we’ll be staking out either Tech World, Game Barn or the Pilton come this weekend.”

“And that may change depending on if anywhere else gets hit again,” Alison added.

“Why not the mall?” Jessica asked.

“Because even if it’s the weekend, we can’t hide inside the mall and we wouldn’t be able to get a good view from outside it,” Max explained. Then he turned to Alison and Zoe. “So stakeout Friday night?”

“Better make it Saturday,” Alison said. “So we can all make sure our homework is done.”

Max groaned but conceded.


	4. Chapter 4- Zoe

Lunchtime came and Zoe joined Max and Alison at their usual table. “So,” she began. “Game Barn got robbed again.”

They both nodded. Then Max said “So we’re staking it out on Saturday.”

Alison snorted. “Good thing my parents are leaving tonight. That way, I don’t have to explain why I’m doing something so crazy.”

“It’s just a stakeout,” Max said with a shrug. “We’ve done it before. Even in cases where the culprit was an adult.”

“Yes but it’s been CULPRIT, not CULPRITS,” Alison said. “I don’t know about you but being in a fight against multiple people sounds like a recipe for disaster.”

“Alison, how many times have I had to defuse a confrontation between you and Basher?”

“One, probably as many times as I’ve had to save you from him because he doesn’t appreciate being a suspect,” Alison said flatly. “And two, that’s Basher; I may be smaller than him but he’s still a kid like us. Whoever is behind the robberies is almost certainly older than we are and more likely an adult...and they probably aren’t alone.”

“Even if we run into trouble, they’d have to catch us,” Max pointed out. “And we’re both pretty fast.”

Alison played with her food briefly. Then she sighed. “Fine, Max. We’ll stake out Game Barn. But I still don’t like it.”

“It’s going to be fine, Ali. What could happen?”

Zoe bit her lip.  _ ‘Well, now you’ve done it, Max. Never ask that question. Don’t you pay attention to...well, pretty much all media?’ _


	5. Chapter 5: Max/Alison

“Max, this is stupid,” Alison groaned. “Why would they keep coming back? There can’t be much money in the cash register after three robberies; you heard the rumors buzzing. No one wants to shop here right now.”

“You know that’s not true,” Max retorted. “This is the best game store in town and only adult gamers can afford to go over to Twindale for their purchases.”

“Fair. But…”

Max shushed her and the three friends ducked out of sight, dragging their bikes with them as a dark van pulled up.

Five masked men climbed out and headed for the door. A pair of bolt cutters made short work of the lock and within minutes, the thieves were carrying out armloads of games as well as stacks of bills.

They loaded the truck before one of them said “All right; back to base. This location is hot now so we’ll leave it alone for a while.”

“Are we still sticking around town?” one of the other thieves asked.

“Eh; just for a couple of days,” the first speaker said with a shrug. “I don’t think the heat will cool off unless we get out of town but in just a few days, we’ll have the haul of a lifetime!”

The thieves all laughed as they climbed into the van and drove off.

Max climbed onto his bike.

“Max! What are you doing?!” Alison hissed.

“Going after them; what else?”

“Are you out of your mind?!” both girls yelled.

Max ignored them as he headed after the departing van. “You heard them; they’ll be skipping town in a few days. This is our only chance of catching them.”

“Max!”

Max ignored Alison again and pedaled off after the van. It didn’t take long for the girls to catch up with him.

“Max, this is insane!” Alison hissed. “What about your promise to your mom?!”

“She made me promise to not get into too much trouble,” he said evenly. “As long as we don’t get caught, this isn’t ‘too much trouble’.”

“That’s semantics and you know it!”

Max shushed her as the van pulled to a stop. They put on their brakes and hid behind some nearby trash cans out of view of the thieves.

“Zoe, call the cops,” Max said quietly.

“Oh; now you want to call the police,” Alison hissed at him.

XXX

“Ali…”

“Don’t call me that!” Alison hissed, louder than she intended. “You don’t have the right to that right now! This is the dumbest thing you've ever done, Max! Bar none!”

“If it’s so stupid, why did you follow me?!” Max snapped, anger and hurt warring in his eyes. “Why didn’t you just let me suffer the consequences of my decision?!”

“Maybe I should have!”

“Guys! Knock it off!” Zoe suddenly hissed anxiously. “Or else you’re going to…”

“Well, well,” a voice said behind them. “What do we have here?”

Alison gulped as she and Max turned to see one of the thieves standing behind them.

“Now what are three kids like you doing in a place like this?” he asked.

“Um…” Max began, clearly not having any good cover stories.

“Seems we have a couple of little spies to take care of…”

“Scatter!” Max ordered and Alison needed no second bidding.

Unfortunately, while she and Zoe got a good head start, Max wasn’t so lucky.

“Ow! Let go!”

“Max!” Alison and Zoe both yelled.

“Keep going! Don’t worry about me!”

The thief pinned the struggling boy to his chest. “Seems we need to teach you some manners.”

He yelped when Max bit him. “You little brat!”

With more strength than Alison would have believed possible, he threw Max against a nearby brick wall and a sudden snap followed by Max’s scream of pain echoed through the alley.

The thief laughed as Max clutched his leg, breathing harsh. “Serves you right, Brat. Now you can’t get away...Maybe I should get MY friends out here to have some fun with you and your friends.”

“If you touch them…” Max growled, only to break off with a yelp when the thief grabbed hold of his hair.

“The only person in a position to say what I can or can’t do would be me, Kid. Now what are we going to do first?” He threw a glance at Alison and Zoe; Alison didn’t know about Zoe but she could feel icy terror in her veins. “You ladies have a suggestion?”

_ ‘Oh god...oh god! What do we do now?!’ _

Alison’s frantic thoughts were interrupted by the welcome sound of police sirens.

“Shit!”

Max’s attacker tried to bolt but Alison grabbed a piece of pipe lying nearby and knocked him out with it. _ ‘Now to deal with the others…’ _

Spying the gun on the unconscious thief’s belt, she gave a grim smile. _ ‘Good thing I know how to pretend I know how to use this thing.’ _

Everything until the police arrived was a bit of a blur but she came back to herself when one of the officers gently took the gun from her hands. “It’s okay now, Kid. We’ll get your friend to the hospital and these guys in jail.”

“Thank you,” Alison whispered, right before her voice vanished and she burst into tears.

Dimly she felt Zoe hugging her. _ ‘Oh my god...oh my god...I never want to do that again...Max, don’t ever scare me like that...please…’ _


	6. Chapter 6- Max

Max wheeled himself into the cafeteria with a tired sigh. After his “foolish amateur move”, as Zoe called it, he had gotten taken to the hospital where he had been checked out and held there for a few days before the doctors finally let him go back home yesterday. Alison squeezed his hand comfortingly as they sat down and started talking about the case. Max took a quick drink of his water just as Leslie Chang came rushing. “Max! Alison! Zoe!”

He jumped and started coughing, waving at Alison to let her know he was fine and sighed exhaustedly.

“Sorry.” Leslie apologized.

“It’s fine.” Max managed to gasp out and shook his head. “What’s up?”

Leslie sat down and rubbed at her temples. “My house was robbed last night.” 

Alison’s eyes widened in surprise. “Really?”

She nodded and straightened up. “Here’s the weird thing: they only took random junk from it, like those twist ties on the bread we get.”

Zoe frowned. “Why on Earth would someone steal bread twist ties?”

She shrugged. “I would have just brushed it off, but then there was this attached to the fridge.” She took a small note out of her pocket and handed it to Zoe. “I think it’s some sort of code.”

The note read  _ “Jmrh qc aieo tsmrxw, fyx qsvi mqtsvxerxpc, jmrh csyvw.” _

“Well, that’s interesting.” Zoe stated, cocking her head to the side. “Max?”

“It’s a Caesar code.” He said after looking it over. (He was a bit relieved to actually be involved in the conversation.) “So if we start here…”

XXX

“Find my weak points, but more importantly, find yours?” Alison said slowly.

He nodded. “Yeah… that’s weird… that’s from  _ “Misery Loves Company”  _ by Gutteridge Rene…”

“So it’s basically nonsense?” Leslie asked.

Max hesitantly nodded. “For right now. If we see any more of these notes, they might have something in common…”


	7. Chapter 7: Zoe

Zoe waved down Max and Alison.

“What’s up, Zoe?” Alison asked.

“Natasha’s house got broken into,” Zoe explained. “And it was like what happened with Leslie’s house. Random junk got taken, in this case all of their plastic spoons leftover from fast food takeout, and a note got left behind.”

“What’s the note say?” Max asked.

“Natasha took a photo for me.” Zoe pulled out the photo in question, handing it to Max.

The text read  _ Als firijmxw jvsq Qmppiv'w Tsrh fimrk tsmwsrih? Mx'w rsx pmoi mx'w e tpegi tistpi ks xs vikypevpc. _

“It’s a Caesar cipher again,” he muttered.

“What’s it say?”

“Who benefits from Miller's Pond being poisoned? It's not like it's a place people go to regularly.”

“That’s...a quote from  _ “The Poisoned Pond” _ by Wallis Wallace,” Alison said, her brow furrowed in confusion. “But this makes even less sense than the last one.”

“Though both notes are addressed to both of us,” Max said, pointing at the bottom of the photo.

Sure enough, the note was marked as “To Max Finder and Alison Santos”, just like the first one.

“That’s...really weird,” Zoe said. “Maybe we should take this to the police.”

“And tell them what?” Max asked. “That someone is breaking into houses to steal junk and leave nonsense notes? Yeah; that’s going to get them jumping.”

“Max, calm down,” Alison sighed. “Zoe, you have a point but so does Max. There’s no evidence this is anything more than a bizarre prank yet. The police won’t take us seriously without proof.”

Zoe sighed herself. “Fine. But as soon as anything big happens, to the police we go.”

“Agreed,” Max and Alison chorused.


	8. Chapter 8- Alison

Alison was nearly tackled to the ground by Gabrielle Seguin and Nikki Steele as they ran toward her. “Whoa, hey, girls! What’s the rush?” She asked as Nikki finally slowed down before yanking Gabrielle back. 

Nikki shrugged as she struggled to catch her breath. “Long story short, we were having a sleepover and came downstairs this morning to find that someone had taken the bottle caps off of the milk bottles. Though they just could have taken the whole recycling with them, but no, just the bottle caps.” She grinned at her own joke, then Gabrielle pulled her phone out of her pocket and handed it to Alison. 

“There was a note hanging from the key hooks in the front hallway… we were hoping to talk to you as soon as possible…”

Alison gave the two girls an encouraging smile and glanced at the picture:  _ “Sri wiphsq jmrhw wsqixlmrk mj sri riziv egxyeppc pssow jsv mx.” _

“Another Caesar Cipher?” She asked aloud.

Nikki blinked. “This has happened before?”

She nodded and fiddled around with the code in her head before blinking in surprise.

“One seldom finds something if one never actually looks for it.” She muttered aloud. “That’s from  _ “A Curious Beginning” _ by Deanna Raybourn…”

Gabrielle shook her head. “Even though it doesn't make any sense, I just can’t help but feel like it’s a threat.”

Alison snorted. “You’re not the only one.”


	9. Chapter 9: Zoe

“It happened again!” Zoe said, bolting over to Max and Alison. “Someone snuck into Andrea’s room and took all of the gum wrappers from her trash can.”

“And the note?” Max asked.

Zoe handed it over. “No fingerprints. But it’s another Caesar Cipher.”

The note read  _ Xli qmwwmrk tivwsr vitsvx mw jepwi! Fyx alc asyph wsqisri jeoi xlex omrh sj hsgyqirx? _

“The missing person report is false! But why would someone fake that kind of document?” Alison asked. “I know that’s from a book but which one?”

“Another one of Wallis Wallace’s,” Max said. “ _ The Disappeared Debutante _ .”

Alison snapped her fingers. “Yeah! The one where the titular character did indeed go missing but it wasn’t originally a kidnapping.”

“So does that mean we should be expecting this to turn out to be something it doesn’t look like?” Zoe asked nervously.

“I don’t know,” Max sighed. “This both does and doesn’t feel like a real case.”


	10. Chapter 10- Max

“There’s two of them?!?” He yelped.

Alison nodded grimly. “Yeah, I found one in my room and one in Marcus’s room. I already solved one.”

_ “Ampp, alex mj li fpeqiw qi? M'q tvegxmgeppc er eggsqtpmgi!!!” _

“Will, what if he blames me? I’m practically an accomplice!!!” Max muttered aloud. “That’s  _ “Abducted Author _ ,” right? Didn’t Wallis Wallace do some field research for that one?”

“Yeah. A faked kidnapping that some locals in the town she went to for a signing solved the whole thing.” Alison said with a shrug of her shoulders. “Anyway, this is the one in my room. I haven't solved it yet.”

_ “Csy xipp Pyoew e hiep mw e hiep. M aerx qc qsric xshec!” _

“You tell Lukas a deal is a deal. I want my money today!” Alison read aloud and blinked in surprise. “Hey, isn't that from one of our earlier novels?”

Max looked over her shoulder and felt a small chill run down his spine. “...You’re right, it is.”

She suddenly shivered. “I feel really uncomfortable now…”

Max nudged her with his arm. “Aw, come on, Ali. We’re fine.”

She raised an eyebrow and gestured to his leg, at which he held up his hands in surrender. “Ok, fair enough.”


	11. Chapter 11: Max

“I just don’t get it, Al,” Max sighed, looking over the various notes the “robber” currently running around Whispering Meadows had left behind. “Other than them all being from mystery books, there’s no connecting thread.”

_ “I guess it could just be some kind of taunt,”  _ Alison’s voice mused over the speaker-phone.  _ “Especially since some of them sound like threats out of context.” _

With a sigh, he said “True. But why would they be taunting us specifically? All the notes are addressed to at least one of us.”

_ “We did break up a crime ring right before this,” _ Alison pointed out.  _ “Not to mention they quoted one of our novels.” _

Max nodded but then remembered that they weren’t using video chat. He opened his mouth to reply, only to hear what sounded like footsteps outside his door. He carefully wheeled away from his desk towards the door. “Mom?”

Suddenly the door to his room was flung open, knocking him out of his wheelchair and sending him sprawling with a startled yelp.

_ “Max?!” _

Max groaned as he began to sit up.  _ ‘Damn. That hurt…’ _

He looked up to see a complete stranger standing in the doorway, a malicious grin on his face and tried to scramble away. “Who are you? What are you...MMPH!”

So quick Max hadn’t seen what had been happening, his assailant had slapped duct tape over his mouth.

The man chuckled as he grabbed Max’s wrists. “Feisty, aren’t you? Good. I want my revenge to last.”

_ ‘Revenge? Wait…’ _

The man laughed again as realization dawned in Max’s eyes. “Yeah. You got my buddies arrested and we lost everything we had stolen. Was gonna set us up for life. But you and your little friends ruined that!”

The man’s last sentence was accompanied by a swift kick to Max’s injured leg, prompting a pained cry the duct tape couldn’t completely muffle.

The man’s angry expression turned to malicious glee. “Ah; battle wound, huh? Might as well get started right now…”

_ ‘What is he…’ _ Max’s eyes went wide in horror as the man raised his foot.  _ ‘No! Stop!’ _

A cracking sound rang through the air, accompanied by Max’s muffled but still perfectly audible scream of pain.

_ ‘Fuck! My leg is on fire!’ _

Apparently thinking he had disabled Max, his assailant released his hold on Max’s wrists. “You wait here. Now that I’ve got you ready to go, I’m going to go see what there is that can start to pay me back for what you cost me. Then once we get back to base and I drop you off, your little friends are going to be joining us.”

Despite the haze of pain, Max registered what the man had said and it infuriated him. As the man started to head out of the room, Max managed to grab one of his crutches.

_ ‘I only get one shot at this…’ _

He swung his makeshift weapon as hard as he could and to his surprise, not only did it connect but the force sent the thief crashing into the doorframe, promptly knocking him out cold.

Max dropped the crutch and yanked off the duct tape, panting heavily.

He suddenly registered Alison’s panicked yelling over the phone and crawled back to his desk. He managed to reach up and grab the phone. “I...I’m still here, Ali. That guy who broke in...he’s...he’s down. I...I don’t know for how long though. So...so can you c...call the cops? A...and an ambulance? I...I’m pretty sure he j...just rebroke my leg…”


	12. Chapter 12- Alison

_ “Mom?”  _ Max called out. There was a loud thud and a startled yelp of shock.

“Max?!” She called out, worried.

_ “Who are you? What are you...MMPH!” _ Max asked the person on the other end before he was suddenly cut off with a loud groan.

A man chuckled.  _ “Feisty, aren’t you? Good. I want my revenge to last.” _

_ ‘Revenge? Wait… OH NO, MAX!!!’ _

_ “Yeah. You got my buddies arrested and we lost everything we had stolen. Was gonna set us up for life. But you and your little friends ruined that!” _

The man’s last sentence was accompanied by a cry of pain from Max that was partly but not completely muffled.

The man’s angry growl turned to a tone of malicious glee.  _ “Ah; battle wound, huh? Might as well get started right now…” _

A cracking sound rang through the air, accompanied by Max’s muffled but still perfectly audible scream of pain. Alison screamed in horror, grabbing the nearest thing she could think of and holding on for dear life.  _ “You wait here.” _ The man ordered. “ _ Now that I’ve got you ready to go, I’m going to go see what there is that can start to pay me back for what you cost me. Then once we get back to base and I drop you off, your little friends are going to be joining us.” _

_ ‘No, we’re not!’  _ She thought.

There was suddenly a loud thud and Alison screamed again, yelling “Max? MAX?!?”

_ “I...I’m still here, Ali.”  _ Max’s exhausted voice came through the phone and she sighed in relief, letting go of the picture of herself, Max, and Zoe posing together outside of her house  _ “...That guy who broke in...he’s...he’s down. I...I don’t know for how long though. So...so can you c...call the cops? A...and an ambulance? I...I’m pretty sure he j...just rebroke my leg…” _

She swallowed.  _ ‘Great…’ _ “Yeah, I can… just stay with me, Max.”

He chuckled slowly.  _ “...I...I’m tr...trying, o...okay…?” _

She sighed as she called the police. “911? My name is Alison Santos, and my friend just got attacked in his house…”


	13. Chapter 13: Zoe/Alison

Zoe rushed into the lobby of the hospital and ran up to the front desk. “I’m here for Max Finder,” she said breathlessly. “Is...is he okay for visitors?”

The secretary typed on the computer and read what was on the screen. “Not yet; he’s still in surgery. But I can send you to wait with the other girl who came in for him.”

Zoe nodded distractedly and followed the staff member who came over to show her to where Alison was waiting.

Alison looked up from the magazine she had been pretending to read. “Zoe…”

“Yeah; I’m here.” She sat down next to Alison. “What’s the report?”

“Apparently when that robbery gang got broken up, there was a member who wasn’t at their base that night. He wasn’t happy we got his buddies arrested and all the loot sent back where it belonged. So he started “robberies” of his own to throw us and the cops off-guard. He was apparently also spying on us, hence why he knew Max’s dad was still out of town and his mom was working late. I don’t think he knew Max had been on the phone with me when he broke in.”

“What was he planning anyway?”

“I don’t have all the details but apparently he was planning on kidnapping us and taking revenge. Judging by the way he roughed up Max, it wouldn’t have been quick and almost certainly would have been painful.”

“So why Max?” Zoe asked, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. “If he wanted all three of us.”

“I think it’s because he knew Max would be home alone tonight,” Alison said slowly. “Marcus was home last night and so was my mom. And while your parents aren’t back yet, Andrea was at your place. Also Max was already injured so he probably seemed like an easy mark...As for what the guy planned after that, I can’t be sure but it’s likely he would have held Max for ransom; demanded you and I come meet him some place.”

“Would you have done it?” Zoe waited for Alison’s response...longer than she expected. “Alison?”

“I’d have done it,” Alison said quietly. “And so would you...And this guy knew it.”

There was silence for a long time. Then Zoe grabbed Alison’s hand and squeezed. “It’s going to be okay…”

Alison shrugged but didn’t say anything as they slipped into silence.

XXX

Finally Max moved to recovery, though it was still several hours before he was properly awake and coherent.

“You scared me, Max,” Alison breathed softly.

“Sorry, Ali,” he said quietly.

“Never do that to me again...please…”

“Don’t worry; I won’t.”

Zoe cleared her throat suddenly and both Alison and Max turned to look at her. “I think I know a way we can make sure of that.”

“What do you have in mind?” Alison asked.

“That we all promise to never go after adult criminals without police back up.”

Max laughed hollowly. “I can get behind that.”

Alison smiled sadly. “Me too.”

“Good...Because both of you scared ME!”

The laughter that followed was tense but Alison still felt her physical tension start to fade.  _ ‘This is never going to happen again...I won’t let it…’ _


End file.
